Candidate for Oakland County Prosecutor on Criminal Justice Reform, Wrongful Convictions & More
A candidate for Oakland County Prosecutor lays out her plans to make no cash bail the presumption, create a conviction integrity unit, stop contesting marijuana expungements, and have prosecutors participate in treatment courts if elected.
About This Episode
Karen McDonald is a new candidate running for Oakland Country Prosecutor in 2020 against the 12-year incumbent prosecutor, Jessica Cooper. She has experience working in the prosecutor’s office and as a judge in Oakland County Circuit Court. Karen is dedicated to reforming our criminal justice system and keeping Oakland County safe.
On this episode of Open Mike, Karen explains how her stances on important issues differ from her opponents’. She answers questions about wrongful convictions, unfair bail practices, and marijuana expungements. Tune in to hear more about Karen’s plans to revolutionize the Oakland County Prosecutor’s office.
Show Notes
- Introducing today’s guest, Karen McDonald
- Karen talks about stepping down from her position in the Oakland County Circuit Court
- Karen plans on being fully involved with treatment courts
- Over 90% of the people who don’t post bail plead guilty
- Check out the Detroit Bail Project
- People are denied due process because they are poor
- Can you explain the original basis for bail?
- Karen wants her prosecutors to attend arraignments and usually resist cash bail
- 93% of the Bail Project’s clients show up to their trial
- People should stay in jail if they are dangerous
- Having a democrat challenge a democrat who is 12 years incumbent is strange
- Kym Worthy endorsed Karen
- Making wrongful convictions right is important to Mike
- Watching what Jessica Cooper said about wrongful convictions
- Asking Karen the same question
- Prosecutors should have enough integrity to admit mistakes
- Wrongful conviction is not a partisan issue
- Mike is switching his vote to Karen
- What did you think of the prosecutor in Kenny Wyniemko’s case?
- The Prosecutor has to focus on justice and not winning
- Wrongful convictions mean the real criminal goes free
- How to balance protecting victims and not jumping to conclusions?
- Kenny stood up for Carl Marlinga because he didn’t know what the prosecutor was doing
- Can you talk about marijuana expungements?
- When you become Oakland County prosecutor you won’t contest marijuana expungements?
- Do you want to point out any other differences between you and Jessica Cooper?
- Thank you for watching this episode of Open Mike!
FAQs
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What does Karen McDonald want to change about bail practices in Oakland County?
She says she would tell her assistant prosecutors that the presumption is no cash bail, put a prosecutor at every arraignment, which she says is doable because they can appear virtually, and have prosecutors think through why they are asking for cash bail instead of asking for the highest bail by default. She says cash bail is still appropriate in rare cases, such as when, as a judge, she saw people who had been served a personal protection order go straight to the petitioner and assault her again.
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Will Karen McDonald create a conviction integrity unit if elected?
Yes. Asked whether she would start one, she said yes, absolutely. She says it has to be done a certain way: someone from the outside, a defense attorney, should start the unit, because assigning it to someone in the office essentially asks them to police their own. That prosecutor evaluates new evidence and decides whether to recommend relief to the elected prosecutor, which might be a new hearing, a new trial or total exoneration.
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What is Karen McDonald's position on marijuana expungements?
She says she cannot find a good reason not to expunge marijuana possession convictions now that the conduct is legal. She says she would tell her assistant prosecutors not to contest a defense motion to expunge, and she supports automatic expungement legislation, which she says the governor’s office and some statewide elected officials are working on.
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Why hasn't the Oakland County prosecutor's office participated in the county's treatment courts?
McDonald says that when incumbent Jessica Cooper took office in 2008, she said she would not participate in the county’s treatment courts, such as its drug court and veterans court, because she was not a social worker and it was not her job. McDonald says the law creating these courts requires the prosecutor’s participation, so an emergency rewrite in the legislature in Lansing was needed just so Oakland County could have them, and that Oakland is the only county in the state without prosecutors involved.
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How does McDonald say cash bail affects people who can't afford it?
Mike Morse cited a statistic that over 90% of people who can’t make bail end up pleading guilty, compared with 50% of those who get out on bail. McDonald explained why: a person held in jail may lose their job, can’t parent their children or pay their bills, and has little opportunity to help with their own defense, so when a guilty plea means time served and going home, they take it.
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